A 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor, sold by FTX's bankruptcy estate for $200,000 in April 2023, would now be valued at approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation. This development comes as SpaceX plans to acquire Cursor later this year, with the option to pay $10 billion if the full acquisition does not proceed, in a bid to close the gap with competitors in the AI coding tools space.
The stake was originally acquired by Alameda Research, a trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, for $200,000 in April 2022, representing a 5% stake in the company at a $4 million valuation. However, after FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a significant missed recovery opportunity for the estate's creditors.
This incident has sparked debate, with Bankman-Fried arguing that the estate's liquidation of assets too quickly during the bankruptcy process destroyed billions in value, and that customers could have been made whole if the process had held positions instead of selling them into what turned out to be the bottom of crypto prices. The timing of this revelation is particularly awkward for FTX's bankruptcy administration, as it highlights the potential value that could have been realized if the estate had held onto the stake.